The Importance of Evergreen Content

When it comes to producing content for your website, social media and blog, there are many speculations to take into consideration. From keywords to fluff pieces, it's important to keep your audience in mind. What are they searching for, and what do they wish to learn more about?

Although timely and newsworthy posts are great to include in your content plan, evergreen content is one of the most useful tools you should consider as well.

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is any piece of SEO content that is not time sensitive and does not require updating. It’s the content that stays fresh without having to be refrigerated. This includes things like product reviews, videos, tips, tutorials and more. (This very blog post is considered evergreen content).

Evergreen content does not include things like news articles, reports on trending topics, holiday fads, statistics or quantitative data that requires an update one or more times.

Why is it Called “Evergreen Content?”

You don’t have to be in marketing to know that “evergreen” refers to trees and greenery! Evergreen trees are symbolically known to be lasting and sustainable, which is why many people opt for them when decorating during the holiday season.

Evergreen, from a marketing standpoint, refers to lasting and sustainable content, that drives more traffic to your website simply by existing in searchable topics.

How to Write Evergreen Content

Bear in mind that this content may not perform as well if it is written at an expert level. Keep the subject matter on the simple side to drive more traffic and meet the demands of what people are searching for and wish to learn more about.

How-to’s, tutorials and lists are all examples of content that is easily digestible and shareable (see evergreen websites like ehow.com, quora.com, about.com, etc.) Be sure to stay within the subjects of your company’s industry or field, but don’t be afraid to use bits and pieces of content that may be appealing to other audiences.

How & When to Repurpose Evergreen Content

If you find yourself drawing a blank for a spot in your social media content plan, evergreen content can come into play nicely. Better yet, if your evergreen content includes a theme, it can rank high in SEO, just because of its keywords.

Another great thing about evergreen content is that based on its subject matter, it can be interlinked into other blog posts an unlimited amount of times. It’s important to be knowledgeable of the keywords that are ranking high in your content, as you can build off of these in future content - especially future evergreen content.

How Much is Too Much?

Although evergreen content is useful, shareable, and doesn’t have an expiration date, this shouldn’t be the only type of content that you share. It is best practice to have a mix of timely content as well as evergreen content; your audience will be enriched by both.